"Come And Get Your Love" by Redbone, 1974.

The drums kicked and the bass sounded in the familiar three-note line over and over.

Oohs wove together in a harmony that built and augmented in a matter of seconds to the catchiest of hooks, peppered throughout the verse that led the way to the lip-sync-worthy chorus.

"Heeey (heeey)
What's the matter with your heeead? Yeeah...
Heeey (heeey)
What's the matter with your mind and your sighin' and-a...ohhh-ohh
Heeey (heeey)
Nothin's the matter with your head, baby, find it
Come on and find it
Heeeelll...with it, baby, 'cause you're fine and you're mine and you...look so diviiine

Come and get your love
Come and get your looove
Come and get your love
Come and get your looove."

Lily couldn't help the slight spring in her step as the music spread from her headphones to her veins and nervous system. If no one were in London today, she'd dance, and, if luck was with her, belt the funky tune. She was barely able to contain her energy now on her walk to Diagon Alley. This was such a great song.

The 16-year-old native Muggle-turned-brilliant witch kept her headphones on through the Leaky Cauldron when she reached it and tapped the bricks in the back of it with her wand, allowing her into Diagon Alley. She tried not to walk to the beat of the Redbone song, in case any of her classmates were running around, until a bump into her shoulder blade from behind caused her to jump and turn with a squeal.

Laughing her head off, one of Lily's best friends, Alice Prewett, captured Lily in a hug, which Lily, having let her headphones down to her neck, eagerly returned.

"Merlin, Alice, you're as bad as Frank now. What's gotten into you?" Lily giggled.

"Please, Lily. You yourself said so disgustingly of us, and I quote: 'Alice, Frank's more like your brother than your boyfriend. You two are exactly the same.' Okay, ew. I already have a brother, and I'd much rather snog Frank, got it?" Alice chattered. Lily laughed as they walked past the apothecary.

"Okay, gross, Alice, I get it, but I still stand by my original statement. Except now he's more you and you're more him. I'm not sure if that's healthy or not, Al."

"I am not more him. I just have newfound appreciation for sneaking up on people and scaring them. And I've gotten very good at it."

Lily scoffed and shook her head. "Whatever," she said, grinning, "let's go and find Hestia. I promised we'd meet up with her here." She stopped in front of Flourish & Blott's.

"The bookstore? That's so typically Lily of you," Alice said, her voice oozing with fake sweetness. Lily flicked her on the bare shoulder. "Also, whatever you were so absorbed in that I could scare you? I want to hear it." Alice reached for the headphones around Lily's neck and held one up to her ear. "Play, please," she ordered.

Lily sighed. Only Alice could go from insulting her quirky personality to loving her curious, non-magic background in a matter of moments. Bloody ADHD, I swear to Merlin, Lily thought, laughing out loud as she pressed the play button on her portable tape player. She held the other speaker up to her ear as the Redbone song started over.

Alice listened intently, her eyes glazing over now and then. Her shoulders started to glide back and forth involuntarily. "Wowwww," she said after the first chorus ended, handing the headphones back to Lily. "That is so catchy! And that guy's voice is so...intriguing." Lily gave Alice a questioning look.

"Intriguing?" she copied as she took her headphones back and secured them at her neck. "How do you mean? I'd have gone with 'high' but 'awesome.'"

"I just mean I've never quite heard anything like it, Lil. Most people sound so much the same when they're singing but he's got a very interesting tone to his style." Lily nodded and shrugged.

"Okay, I'll take it. I suppose you haven't heard most of what my dad plays in my house, then. Redbone's lead singer sounds a lot like everything I've heard, but, yes, he's good."

Lily's father was a musician. He taught voice lessons, instrumental lessons, and he and a cover band performed at bars around town. She'd inherited her love of music directly from him and he'd taught her everything she knew-all for free. Lily thought of him and grinned, just as Hestia was walking up to them. She engulfed them both in a huge hug.

"I missed you two," she sighed. "Who wants to catch up over ice cream before we do our shopping?"

In Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Lily devoured her chocolate and raspberry and chopped nuts ice cream cone. She had so missed coming here. "I haven't been able to get here all summer. My Merlin...this stuff is amazing."

Hestia chuckled. "Relax, Lily, it's not like the parlour's going to fly away anytime soon. Slow down."

"Uh-uh," Lily shook her head and kept eating.

Alice glanced at Hestia. "Let it go," she told her. "Lily and ice cream have been married for...how many years now, Lily?"

"Fifteen," Lily replied without blinking. Alice and Hestia laughed heartily. With a shrug, they ate their own cones in rather unladylike bites. Hey, if their mums weren't around to see, what did it matter as long as they weren't being outright disgusting?

After finishing up their ice cream, the girls made trips to the stores around Diagon Alley for several hours. Having replenished their supplies for the coming school year, they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to have dinner. A couple of their other friends who had already done their shopping were meeting them there.

They found Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon, and Mary MacDonald waiting for them at a table when they reached the Leaky Cauldron. Everyone hugged everyone whom they hadn't yet seen that day, and they sat down gratefully.

"Merlin's beard," Hestia complained as she massaged her sandal-clad foot, "my feet hurt. How long were we shopping?"

"I don't know, hours, I guess," Alice said obviously. Lily rolled her eyes and looked at her watch.

"Six hours," she said matter-of-factly. "We've been here since noon."

The rest of dinner was spent catching up. Lily hadn't seen most of the girls since the middle of the summer, when they'd taken a trip to the seaside. This had been mostly an effort on the part of the other girls to make sure Lily was still doing well. It had been a hard summer, especially after the way the school year had ended.

Lily frowned as she thought of her final confrontation with Severus Snape and the end of their friendship. A couple of times at the beginning of the summer, she had caught him at the park between their neighborhoods, but had gotten away before he could see her. The whole thing had upset her, even though she knew that it was better this way.

They had nothing in common anymore. How could he still want to be friends with her after how close he had gotten to doing some of the things his Slytherin friends had been doing to Muggleborns at school? Lily had seen his moping and thought it was just pathetic. That one thing gave her the tiniest inkling of comfort, even though she would normally have thought it awful to grovel in someone else's pain.

She shook the thoughts from her mind, knowing things were better now, and turned her attention back to the conversation. At least she had the girls. And, it turned out rather recently, she had her bandmates.

A few of the students who also had backgrounds in music were going to be playing at the Three Broomstick's Pub on the weekends. Rehearsals, which they had mostly done during the summer, as they were going to be busy during the weeks at school, had been an excellent distraction. The band had remained a surprise until Lily had let it slip to the girls over their trip. She was eagerly anticipating the first Saturday of the school year, which would be their first show. Since it was a bit of a surprise for the students who didn't know, Lily had recruited her friends to be bringing plenty of people to the pub that night.

She grinned at the thought. "So, Lil, how's the band coming?" Emmeline asked in a timely manner. Lily grinned bigger.

"It's great!" she said. "I can't wait until we start playing! Hopefully they'll like us and keep asking us to come back."

"But why wouldn't they, Lily?" Mary asked. "All of you lot are fantastic musicians. Every one of you is like some sort of triple threat! You all can sing, you all can play, and you all like to perform. You're going to be brilliant." Lily blushed at her praise.

"Thanks, Mare," she said. "Anyway, I hope you'll all come see our first show."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world! I've never even seen you play! I'm very curious," Marlene stated.

"You'd even miss a Quidditch celebration to see your least athletically-inclined friend play music?" Lily asked, laughing.

"Of course! I can drink and watch you play, whereas at a Quidditch celebration I'd just be drinking." Lily lowered her head and spoke in a hushed and disapproving tone.

"Marlene," she said. "Please don't get into trouble."

Marlene laughed. "Relax, Lily, I'm always careful." Lily didn't exactly feel better about that, but shrugged anyway. There was never any use arguing with Marlene, even though she had tried from time to time. Alice laughed and patted Marlene's hand.

"I've got a very watchful eye, Lily. Don't you worry about her," she said. Lily laughed.

"Oh, bother. Come on, someone help me with this shepherd's pie. I forgot how gigantic it is. I can't wait for Hogwarts feasts again!"

The girls kept chatting until around 8:30, when Lily looked at her watch and jumped out of her chair. "Merlin's right foot! My mum will wonder where I am!" The girls laughed.

"Lily, please, curfews are always flexible. Besides, what can your mum do if you were enjoying yourself?" Hestia chuckled. Lily gave her a doubtful look.

"You've met my mum, Hestia. Trust me, she's not always that nice." They all doubled over in laughter.

"I've got to go, too, actually. Our mums seem pretty similar, Lily," said Mary as she rose from her chair and grabbed her purse.

"See, Mary's so understanding, ladies. I'll see all of you on September 1st!" Lily picked up her bags and walked out of the pub to Muggle London with Mary.

They said goodbye several after several blocks of conversation, and Lily hopped in her mum's car that she had borrowed and drove the hour from London to Cokeworth. Lily glanced at the clock in the entrance hall as she walked in the front door. 9:45, she thought while grinning to herself, not bad.

"Lily!" her mum called as she shut the door. Lily cursed under her breath. She'd been home at a reasonable hour, what could she possibly be scolded for now? Apprehensively, Lily followed the sound of her mother's voice into the kitchen. Marie Evans smiled and gave her daughter a hug.

"Did you have fun today, sweet?" she asked. Lily nodded as they separated, giving her mum a skeptical look.

"Am I in trouble?"

Marie laughed and shook her head. "No, honey, is a mum not allowed to say hello to her daughter after not seeing her for a whole day? I didn't realize the rules for parental interaction with children had changed so drastically," she said with just a hint of sarcasm. Lily giggled.

"Funny, mum. It's good to see you too. Yes, I had fun, today. Anything else?"

Marie waved an envelope in front of Lily's face. "An owl came here with this for you at around 3. I thought you might want it but..." she began to pull the envelope away from Lily, who snatched it back quickly and laughed.

"Muuuuum," she fake-whined

"Li-lyyy," Marie copied, laughing as Lily opened the envelope with haste. She returned to the sink half-filled with dishes as Lily read the letter.

Dear Lily,

I'm sure you're having a fantastic summer!

Since it's been a bit since our last rehearsal, we'd all like to do one more to make sure our pieces are solid before we play our first show. Can you believe how quickly September is approaching? I'm so excited!

How does the week before September 1st sound? Maybe that Thursday? Owl back and let me know!

See you soon,

Elle

Elle Van Somm, a sixth-year Ravenclaw, was the only other girl in the band, and she was extremely talented. Lily could hardly wait for the chance to play music with her and the other bandmates again.

Lily grinned and hurried up to her room, where she quickly scrawled out a reply that, yes, the Thursday before September 1st would work. Where and what time? She couldn't wait to play again!

After sealing the letter in an envelope, Lily approached her owl's cage. He was a beautiful tawny brown owl named Amadeus, after Mozart, of course. "Hey, you," she said, opening his cage and stroking his feather with one finger.

The owl, who had been snoozing, opened his eyes quickly and hooted at Lily in response. Lily grinned, opening the door to let him fly around the room. Once he landed again, he hooted at Lily, who gave him some treats. "How would you like to go for a nighttime flight, Amadeus?" she asked. He nipped her finger affectionately. "I'll take that as a yes," Lily said. She tied the letter to his leg. "Would you take this to Elle Van Somm? Remember where she is?" Amadeus hooted excitedly and flew to the locked window.

Lily walked over and opened it, and Amadeus hooted once more at her before flying away. Lily shut the window, changed into pajamas, and, after reading a favorite classic book of hers for an hour or so, shut off the lights in her room and went to sleep.

The next day, Lily was in the family's basement, playing the guitar while her dad, Charles, sat at the drum set. "Flower, have you been playing that song a lot lately and gotten better at the solo or am I crazy?" he noted elatedly. Lily grinned at her dad.

"I sure have! Elle's got us rehearsing like mad," Lily added with a chuckle.

"Well, you know what practice makes, don't you?" Charles said with a twinkle in his eye. He winked at Lily.

Lily sighed and shook her head at her dad before quoting him from the many years of their music lessons together: "Practice either makes perfect or it makes insane blokes over and over again." Lily cringed inwardly at his joke as he, like always, laughed like a hyena. She ignored him and started playing the complicated solo again, effectively shutting him up.

He grinned in awe at her. "You know, if the magic world doesn't live up to your expectations, you're always welcome to join the cover band full-time, eh?" Lily laughed.

"I'll consider it an option," she said, and played a different song. She was interrupted, however, by Amadeus flying through the open basement window and dropping a letter in her face.

She shrieked, and caught it, while Amadeus perched himself on the drum set and hooted at her dad to stop playing. "Bloody bird," he muttered, swatting Amadeus away from the drums and to his designated spot, a stack of newspapers piled on top of the piano.

"Good boy," Lily said to Amadeus, and opened the letter. It was from Elle.

Lily!

It's been settled. The Thursday before September 1st, everyone report to my house in Brighton at noon. Let's do this! Our first show is going to be bloody amazing! I'm so excited to see you!

See you then,

Elle

Lily grinned. "Hey, Dad, could you or Mum give me a ride to Brighton on Thursday?"